His Hero
by Chronic Potterphile
Summary: His life is a wreck. His marriage is a failure. He no longer has a family to fall back upon. His career seems all wrong for him. Everything is just falling apart. Yes, his life is a wreck. Until she comes along. (ScoRose)


**This was written as a birthday present to my lovely little sister, Nadia (lairyfight). Love you, sweetie!**

DISCLAIMER: I'm not JK Rowling. I could never be as awesome as her.

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Alice/TheBlackSister is an amazing Beta and I'll always be indebted to her for the number of stories of mine that she has patiently Beta'd. Thank you so much, Alice!

The lyrics in the beginning of the story are from 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias.

Any thoughts on the story will be very appreciated. :)

* * *

**HIS HERO**

_I can be your hero Baby  
I can kiss away the pain  
I will stand by you forever  
You can take my breath away_

Scorpius Malfoy woke up, like every other day, to the throaty voice of the yesteryear Muggle singer his wife so loved. He opened an eye and turned his head sideways to see that the other side of the bed was unoccupied. He was not surprised. Millie had stopped sleeping in the same room as him months ago. It had been long since he had slept in the master bedroom beside her. He was starting to get used to sleeping alone now.

He showered, dressed and made his way to the dining room in the next few minutes. Millie was there, all right, with her throaty Muggle artist crooning away. Scorpius hated the fellow and all his music. He thought the man just sounded as though he were wailing. Millie thought Scorpius's taste in music was rubbish.

But those days for bickering over Muggle music during breakfast time were over. In fact, long gone were the days since Scorpius and Millie had even spoken properly. What was left now were the dry hours at work, a few drinks with friends and then dead silence in the house which Scorpius and Millie only physically shared. They led different lives, kept company of different people and communicated only when necessary. Their marriage was unofficially over. They were only still living together because Scorpius was still looking for a new place to live in.

They had dated for two years at Hogwarts, much to the disapproval of their families. Millie's father had been in the same year as Scorpius's father and they hadn't exactly been friends. Millie's full name was Camille Boot and her father, Terry Boot had been in Ravenclaw while Scorpius's father had been a typically slimy Slytherin, Millie had been in Ravenclaw too, while Scorpius, like his father, had been in Slytherin. But their relationship dynamics had been different. They had been brutally attracted to each other.

After two years of courtship Scorpius had promptly asked Millie to marry him and she had agreed wholeheartedly. After that their families had been very disappointed in them; Draco had been very stern with Scorpius. "Don't come running to me when she divorces you," he had said. But Scorpius, of course, had been too confident in his relationship to take that seriously. He married Millie and they had been happily married for three years.

Three years.

Scorpius looked up from his breakfast at his wife's pretty face as he thought of all the fun they had had. All those memories were irreplaceable. They had been so in love. And then out of nowhere, almost year ago… something happened that broke both of them forever. Their marriage degraded little-by-little, and there was nothing either of them could do to salvage it. Those five years of togetherness had proved nothing. Their marriage had not been able to survive that single tragedy. They were getting divorced like many of those other couples. They were terminating their relationship.

They had tried a trial separation at first. Millie thought it made her feel better. Scorpius felt miserable. He couldn't live without Millie and being separated from her felt as though a limb was cut away. But he had decided that it was no use trying to continue the marriage if he was the only one who was interested in it. Every day, he woke up with a mind to persuade Millie to let them start afresh. And then he would realise that it was useless anyway. Millie had made up her mind-the marriage was dead according to her and she was in no mood to give it another shot.

Presently, she cleared her throat across the table. Scorpius looked up from his eggs and she spoke. "The divorce papers are ready. I'll either owl them to you at work today or give them to you in the evening. Either ways, sign them and hand them back to me by tomorrow."

The word hit Scorpius on the face. He felt the colour drain out of his face. "T-Today?"

She sighed at his reaction. "Please don't make this hard."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll sign them. By the way, about me moving out, I have found this place..."

She looked at him earnestly. "You haven't."

"No, I really-"

"Scorpius," she cut across him. "If you were even looking for another place to stay in, you'd have found one by this time. I know why you don't want to leave this house. You can stay. I understand."

He licked his lips. "I can...?"

"Yes, you can. We'll keep our lives separate. That's all."

"T-That's okay."

"Fine. That's done then. Remember what I said about the divorce papers."

The reality hit Scorpius again. For a minute, just a minute, he had forgotten all those difficult months and his mind conjured up images of the days that he and Millie had spoken like this before. He chewed on his bacon sadly while Millie got up with her empty plate and placed it in the sink. When she turned around, Scorpius suddenly stood up and walked to her.

"What happened?" she asked, bewildered by this. He just bent over and kissed her.

* * *

"This was not supposed to happen."

"It felt like it should have a long time ago."

"Scorpius..." Millie got up from the bed and started to redress herself at full speed. "I've got to go to work."

Scorpius sat up too. "Listen, Millie, can't we give this another try?"

"We've given it a lot of tries. I begged of you less than fifteen minutes ago to not make this hard. Do you always have to complicate everything?"

"Yeah, now trying to save a relationship has been redefined as 'complicating it,' is it?" Scorpius asked her.

"Which of those last few failed attempts gave you the impression that it was a good idea to try to salvage our marriage? It's over, Scorpius, accept it!" Millie was fully dressed now and she made her way to the door. Just before shutting it behind her, she looked back at him. "Be sure to sign those divorce papers today. I don't want a delay. The sooner this happens, the better it is for both of us."

* * *

"Malfoy."

Scorpius heard his colleague, Biggs, call out to him but he continued to concentrate on the case chart of his current patient. After securing good grades in subjects like Potions and Herbology in his N.E.W.T.s, Scorpius had opted to study Healing at St Mungo's hospital. Four years after that particular decision, he was a junior Healer at St Mungo's and he couldn't help but wonder sometimes if he had chosen the right career.

The hours of toil and selfless sacrifices and the fact that, often, duty stood before family had seemed to take quite a toll on his lifestyle. Was it worth saving other lives just to ruin his own? Was sacrificing his time, his liberty, his peace and many other things worth what he was getting now?

There was a bleeping sound. "MALFOY!"

This career had completely destroyed Scorpius. It had shattered him to a point that, sometimes, he couldn't tolerate even thinking of coming back to the hospital ever again. The smell of antiseptic, the sound of the emergency codes, the lime green robes… everything sickened him. He could no longer feel the happiness of new lives being saved every day. Instead, the hospital seemed to reek of the sick and dead. It spelled out despair and hopelessness to him all the time.

"MALFOY, GET YOUR ARSE OVER HERE AND HELP ME WITH THE CPR! THIS GUY IS HAVING A CARDIAC ARREST!"

The alarming bleep came back onto Scorpius's notice as he broke out of his reverie, just to rush to Biggs's side and take over the chest compression. He placed his palms one over the other on the patient's chest and pushed with all his might until a few Trainees, as well as the Healer-in-charge for the case, Healer Murphy, arrived. After a few minutes, Scorpius gave way for a Trainee to conduct the CPR and joined Biggs and Murphy who were standing aside, discussing the sudden cardiac arrest.

"If the CPR doesn't work, we'll put him on bypass and inform the family," sighed Murphy. "Tell me if that happens." He turned to Scorpius. "Come with me to my office, Malfoy. You and I need to have a talk."

Scorpius knew what this was about. He looked at the patient and then at Murphy. "I'll just finish my round of compressions and-"

"No, you can leave this to the Trainees. Follow me."

* * *

"How do you feel, Mr Malfoy?"

"For the last time, I am not distressed."

Scorpius seethed away on a comfortable couch in Rose Weasley's office as she sat calmly in an armchair before him with a notepad in her hand. Actually, it was not exactly her_office_; it was a private room that she had been allotted to see her patients. She was a junior Healer like him, and she handled small, less important cases. The other day when Murphy had summoned Scorpius to his office, he had spoken to him and then taken him to the Chief Healer of the hospital who had asked Scorpius to either get psychiatric help from one of their in-house psychiatric Healers (which happened to be Rose Weasley) or give up his Healing license. He, Scorpius, was apparently being a threat to patients with his 'distressed personality' these days.

Scorpius had seriously considered quitting Healing once and for all, but then he realised that he had already spent half a lifetime chasing after that wretched dream. Putting all that time to waste was not going to help. So he decided to go to Weasley, whom he remembered from school. She had been in his year and he'd had little to do with her or any of her siblings or cousins. He stayed away from those people altogether, knowing that his grandfather would suffer a stroke if he got chummy with any of them. His father would disapprove too. Though Draco chose not to speak about Harry Potter, Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger much, Scorpius knew he didn't particularly adore them from the few times he had heard their names from his father's mouth.

"You aren't distressed. I get it," said Weasley in an annoyingly calm voice. "But since you're here… tell me about your week."

"There's nothing to say. Just average, boring days."

"I'd like to hear about those, then," she said.

"I don't want to talk. Leave me alone."

Weasley sighed. "Look, Mr Malfoy, you're going to have to give me a reason to certify you sane enough to handle patients again. I'm aware of all the terrible things that have happened-"

Scorpius glared at her. "You do know about what happened, right? Then why are you asking me about it? Go read those stupid tabloids and figure it out for yourself!"

She bit her lip and leaned forward. "How do you feel now?"

"Merlin!" Scorpius exclaimed, standing up from the couch. "Stop asking me the same question over and over again! I'm not depressed, distressed or even stressed at all, okay?! But what I _am_ now is annoyed, really annoyed! I'm frustrated and angry that no one gets what I want. I'm pissed that I'm forced to do something I don't want to and unless you've got something else to say, I'm leaving!"

Weasley smiled at him as she traced a line on her chin with the back of her pen. "Okay. You may leave. Same time next week?"

"Fine," he growled. "Will you certify me now?"

"Oh, if I do that, you won't show up again, so no."

Scorpius controlled an urge to jinx Weasley before leaving her office. His father had said one time that her mother, Hermione Granger had been an annoying know-it-all. Well, Rose Weasley was equally annoying and he'd really have to control himself from hexing her during any of the counselling sessions.

* * *

"Give me your wand."

"No!"

Weasley crossed her arms at Scorpius. "It's been six weeks, Scorpius. Do we have to go through this all the time?" She had begun to use Scorpius's first name once three weeks of counselling had gone by and she had decided that 'Mr Malfoy' was being a hindrance to the communication. Scorpius was okay with the idea of being called 'Malfoy'- his friends had all addressed him by his surname at school, but Weasley wasn't a fan of calling him that either.

Since the second week, Scorpius had had to hand in his wand to Weasley during the session and she would keep it by her side as he spoke. And Scorpius may have vowed never to speak to Weasley in any of those sessions, but he soon learned that the vow was to be broken. Weasley had a gift. She somehow seemed to make Scorpius talk without trying much, even if he came in with a load of determination. She always said or did things that made Scorpius just give in and talk.

Presently, she held out her hand so Scorpius would give her the wand and he made a face before placing it in her palm. She kept it beside her. "Good. So, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Okay, tell me about your boring week then."

"I showed up to the hospital for the lectures every day and then lazed around at home during the time which would have originally been spent on assisting with patients," said Scorpius in a fake sweet voice. "What else?"

"You tell me."

Scorpius sighed. "Don't annoy me, now."

"Am I?" Weasley looked straight into his eyes. "Am I annoying you as much as I normally do, or are you more irritated than usual today?"

"Well, since you seem to be more annoying than usual…"

She nodded. "Okay, if this is about me, we'll talk that out too. What is it about me that is annoying you today?"

"Oh, don't even get me started! You're-" Scorpius searched around for a word that would describe the exact thing about her that was annoying him. "You're-" he sighed again. "Oh, screw it," he said, putting his face in his hands. "Millie… met someone."

There was silence. Weasley spoke up. "And have you met him?"

"No… I saw them kissing at the front door last night."

Weasley raised an eyebrow at him. "Doesn't your window face the backyard?"

"I was coming home from Diagon Alley."

"At night."

"So I had a few drinks at The Leaky Cauldron! I'm a big boy!" Scorpius exclaimed. "How does it matter how I know anyway?!"

"How many drinks did you have?"

"A few. Does it matter?"

"Why were you drinking? Some kind of stress?"

Scorpius gave her an exasperated look. "Are you seriously asking me that question?"

Weasley shrugged. "Well, you have the obvious stress of your divorce, but you've never gone out drinking about that. There was some new kind of stress…" She sat up straight as her eyes twinkled understandingly. "You knew about Millie's date beforehand, didn't you?"

"I… don't know what you're talking about," Scorpius replied, not quite meeting eyes with her.

Weasley nodded. "Okay. Look, Scorpius… Millie may have been a great person- but you have to move on now. _She_ has moved on and spying on her-"

"I wasn't spying on her!" said Scorpius. "Her date called while I was home!"

"Okay, then," said Rose, "I believe you. But you need to get over Millie."

"Yeah, because that's so easy."

"I know it's not easy," said Weasley. "I understand that you're going through a difficult situation, but… you really have to let go of Millie. Or, you must at least be ready to do it. Unless and until you convince your mind about it, all this counselling, all these sessions are an utter waste. Think about it."

* * *

Scorpius was in a towering rage. He headed to Rose Weasley's office taking long strides and feeling steam rise from his ears. He was very, very angry. It was ten weeks since the counselling had started and Weasley was starting to feel like somewhat of a good friend to Scorpius and he was starting to develop feelings for her. She was pretty, intelligent and understanding and he couldn't help but feel attracted to her. He was comfortable discussing most of his emotions with her. There were still things he had been unable to talk about but somehow, he felt those things were for him alone. He didn't want to let them out to her. She had of course asked him time and again to move on from Millie and since the last couple of weeks, he had convinced her that he really had. He was even considering asking her out once therapy was done and he wondered what her reaction would be when she found out about how exactly he had moved on.

He knocked at the wooden door. "Come in," said Weasley's voice and Scorpius stepped in immediately. She took one look at his face and held out her hand. "Wand."

He was in a good mind to put up a fight for it but he gave in. As attracted as he was to her, this still annoyed him. She took the wand. "Tell me."

"Millie's boyfriend is moving in with her."

"Okay. And you're angry about that because…?"

"OF COURSE, I AM!" Scorpius exploded. "MILLIE WANTS ME TO MOVE OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW. SHE TOLD ME I COULD STAY I-"

"Calm down," Weasley interrupted him. "Screaming is not going to help."

"HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO REACT THEN?!"

"Count backwards from ten," Weasley instructed Scorpius.

"NO!"

"Start now."

Scorpius was about to scream again, but then he started to count. "Tennineeightseven-"

"Slowly," said Weasley.

Scorpius growled. "Ten… nine… eight…" he counted slowly till one and realised to his great surprise that the rage was all gone. Instead, there lingered a hopeless feeling of despair. He sighed and sank back into the couch, shutting his eyes. "I'm sorry about that."

"You don't need to apologise," she said. She was silent for a while. "Talk to me, Scorpius."

He opened his eyes. "She is moving on too fast…"

"And yet, that wasn't the fact which upset you in the first place."

"Right," He said, his voice full of sarcasm.

Weasley chewed on her pen. "You know, Scorpius, I pay attention to everything that you say."

"Good for you," replied Scorpius. "So you may have noticed-"

"That you're upset about moving out of the house more than anything? Yes."

Scorpius stared at her in stunned silence for a while. "That-that isn't true… why would you say…?"

"You screamed it out to me just now, Scorpius," said Weasley. She bit her lip. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't," whispered Scorpius.

She nodded. "Some other time, then."

"Sure," Scorpius lied. "Not now."

"Okay. Whenever you are ready." Weasley had a soft expression of concern on her face which quickly changed into a smile. "Okay, tell me about your week."

Scorpius chuckled lightly. "You're ridiculous, Rose!"

She raised her eyebrows. "Rose?"

"Sorry. Healer Weasley."

She smiled again. "I was just pulling your leg. You can call me whatever you're comfortable with."

He nodded, glad that he could call her by her first name now. "Okay, Rose. I'll do that."

There was a short period of silence. "So," said Rose, "your week and the boring events, then."

"Oh, yeah. Monday I woke up and shaved and…"

"You can skip some details."

"Since you're so dedicated to counselling me, I won't."

"Merlin… Continue."

"Yeah. So I was saying…"

* * *

Rose Weasley entered her flat and rushed to the couch, settling herself onto it with a sigh. It had been a long day at the hospital. Since she was a junior Healer, she never got any of the complicated cases. It was generally depressed people or people suspended from work for therapy. There was also the occasional Squib. Today, she'd had a lot of cases of depression; plus Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy. He was a difficult person. He never spoke out about his emotions and each time, Rose had to carefully get them out of him. And that was a tiring task with how determined he usually was.

Scorpius was Rose's most attractive patient too. He had something about him which invariably got Rose's stomach doing back-flips when she saw him. Plus, he was a good person, contrary to what everyone seemed to think at school. He had genuinely loved Millie Boot and he had really tried to make the marriage work from his side. He was also good-looking and sincere; honest and charming and Rose wondered if she'd have been attracted to him much earlier, had she known him at Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, she knew that nothing could ever be made of the attraction. Scorpius was her patient and Rose could make out that he considered her his friend. Conversely, he wasn't _her_ friend. He knew nothing about her. This was just plain attraction with no base and a one-sided attraction at that. Plus Rose was comfortable with what was there right now. Anything else would make it awkward, and wouldn't be good for the counselling sessions.

Presently, Rose got up from the couch and made her way into her bedroom, where she changed out of her lime-green robes and into a pair of Muggle casuals. It was a Saturday night and she was in a good mood to go out for a drink. She had worked hard all week and she really needed a break. She headed out of her flat and Apparated directly to the doorstep of The Leaky Cauldron. The landlady, Mrs Longbottom, greeted Rose with a smile. Professor Longbottom was there too- Hogwarts was out for the summer and he and Rose had a small chat until she took a private booth and ordered a snack and a drink.

She was sipping her second mug of Butterbeer when a fight broke out in the pub. Rose looked up from her drink just long enough to see Professor Longbottom get up and rush to control the fight. And then she heard a familiar voice. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME MOVE OUT OF MY OWN 'OUSE!" There was a sound of breaking glass and Rose heard Professor Longbottom's voice.

"That's enough. I'll have to ask you to take this argument outside."

"I WON'T GO ANYWHERE."

"Mr Malfoy, you have created quite a scene already. Ms Boot, please take him outside."

Rose got up from her place to see Camille Boot trying to talk to a very drunk-looking Scorpius, who was point-blank refusing to go out. Millie looked at Longbottom. "Professor, I think you should make that a room for two-"

"I won't stay wiz you," Scorpius slurred. "I DON'T WANT YOUR SYMPAZY."

"Mr Malfoy-" Longbottom began, but Rose rushed to the scene.

"Scorpius," she called out to the man and he turned around.

"Rose?"

Millie looked at Rose in recognition. "I know you…"

"Rose Weasley, Scorpius's Healer," said the latter, holding out her hand. Millie took it, after which Rose spoke directly to Scorpius. "Count backwards from ten. Slowly."

He sighed. "Ten, nine, eigh'… I can't remember."

"Of course you can. Count again."

"Ten, nine, eigh', zeven…" He counted once again and for the second time that day, he was calm.

Rose looked at Millie. "If you don't mind, I have to talk to him. I'll make sure he's home soon."

"Actually, he's staying here for the night," said Millie, handing Rose a single key. "But… thanks."

"No problem."

Longbottom was still standing there. "Will you be okay with-" he asked Rose, but she cut him off.

"He's my patient, Professor. I'll manage."

"Okay, should I send drinks to your booth?"

"Just another mug of Butterbeer, thanks."

"What was that, Scorpius?"

"Millie wants me to move out."

Rose sipped her Butterbeer. "Why is that bothering you so much? It was bound to happen. I've told you this a lot of times before, Scorpius, _move on!_"

"I am mo'ing on!" Scorpius said, his bloodshot eyes narrowing angrily. "I just don't want to leave that house!"

Rose licked her lips before plunging them into the chilled Butterbeer once again. What was wrong with Scorpius? It seemed like he wasn't getting better at all! Rose took a long gulp, frustrated at herself for failing so miserably at treating one of the very few challenging cases she had come across. No matter what she did, she was unable to help Scorpius completely. He was not ready to open up to her. And ugh! She had failed so terribly that she was counselling him at a pub now.

She finished her Butterbeer and looked up at Scorpius. He wasn't going to get any better with her trying to get him to talk in this drunken state of his "Okay, we'll talk about this next week then," she said as she stood up and helped him to his feet. "Let's get you to your room."

He nodded and staggered up to his room with her for support. She unlocked the door for him and helped him sit in the armchair before leaving the key on the table. She then headed out. "See you next week then."

She was just shutting the door behind her when Scorpius spoke from inside. "You know why this is bozering me, don't you? You just want me to say it out loud."

Rose looked at him through the partially shut door, then re-entered the room and sat on the armchair opposite his. "You need peace from it. The only way is to talk-"

"It hurts to even zink about it," Scorpius slurred with a painfully earnest expression on his face.

"I know," sighed Rose. "I know how it feels."

"No, you don't," said Scorpius. "You would neve' understand."

"I would, if you just spoke to me-"

"You haven't even been through anything like it…"

"No, I haven't, Scorpius," Rose said in defeat. "But I can help you. You can talk to me."

"I want to do more than just talk."

He started to lean towards her and Rose stood up. "Okay, okay… Scorpius, I'm your Healer. You're drunk…"

Scorpius stood up too and stepped close to her. "I like you, Rose."

"I'm your Healer," Rose repeated, taking a step away from his Firewhiskey-tinged breath.

Scorpius came closer yet. "Okay, then. You're fired." He was way too close now…

Their lips met and Rose found herself moving her lips against his eagerly, feeling his stubble with her palm that had cupped his face… the kiss was soft and wonderful, yet sad… Rose knew why it was sad, but she had wanted exactly this for a while now… his soft tongue moving against hers and his taste… intoxicatingly sexy. A wonderful feeling of bliss settled over her… and then she came back to her senses as she pushed him away.

"Oh Merlin… this wasn't supposed to happen… oh no…"

Unable to face Scorpius, Rose collected her bag and rushed to the door. She turned to him one last time and had opened her mouth to tell Scorpius that she'd recommend him another Healer through Owl Post, when she noticed something.

A single tear was rushing down his cheek. His lips quivered slightly as he spoke up. "I don't want to leave the house I shared with Millie because it's the only place where I have memories of my daughter…" He hesitated. "It's… the anniversary of her death tomorrow. That's why Millie wants me to stay here. She can't have me in the house for now. But I don't want to be alone. Please don't leave me alone."

* * *

"She was a beautiful girl."

Rose sat next to Scorpius as he reclined on the bed, sipping at a cup of black coffee. She nodded. "Tell me everything about her."

"She was born in early spring, two years ago. We named her Amber- Millie really loved that name and she had already decided while we were just dating, that if she ever had a daughter, she'd name her Amber." Scorpius paused to swipe at a stray tear, "Amber was so tiny at birth… and so helpless… I remember how much she resembled Millie."

"And?"

"She was an active little girl," said Scorpius, a small smile playing in his lips. "She hated lying in the cradle all the time- she giggled adorably when either one of us took her out for anything. She was a happy baby… she was not at all fussy… she also understood a lot of things very soon."

Rose patted his back. "You loved her a lot."

"Yes," he whispered. "She was my little princess. I was ready to do anything for her… I wanted to do everything for her…" his eyes were filling up again and Rose felt a pang of sympathy inside her. She knew all about Amber. The story had been all over the papers last year and she had known, from the moment Scorpius had entered the therapy room weeks ago, that all his troubles had just one base- the death of his daughter.

She had tried to indirectly get him to talk about it many times, but it hadn't worked. And now when he was finally talking, she wasn't his official therapist anymore.

Scorpius was wiping his face as he leaned back into his pillows. "I still remember that day."

"You don't have to talk about the incident if you don't want to," said Rose slowly. "I know it's painful…"

"Millie had to report to work early," Scorpius continued as though Rose had not spoken. "The nanny was on her way and I was getting ready for work…"

_Scorpius donned his lime-green robes and rushed to the kitchen to grab the breakfast that Millie had prepared for him. He could hear Amber giggling in the backyard as she zoomed around in her toy broomstick. He frowned at that. Millie must have put her there to play and as safe as it was in the backyard, Scorpius was not so comfortable with daughter riding that broomstick in there alone._

_He took his plate in his hands and decided to eat at the steps on the back door while he watched his daughter. He had just taken two steps from the dining table, when he heard a scream and a crash. His plate fell from his hands when he realised that the scream was from Amber._

_Rushing to the back door, he opened it and leapt down the stairs into the backyard where his daughter lay at a short distance with an alarming, red stream flowing out from the direction of her crumpled figure. "AMBER!"_

_Scorpius fell to his knees beside her, scooping her into his arms and holding her to himself. She was bleeding profusely from her head and for the first time in the two years of his Healer Training, Scorpius didn't know how to control it. Suddenly he realised that she wasn't breathing. A gasp escaping him, he put three trembling fingers to feel the pulse on her neck. It wasn't there._

"Millie and I blamed each other enough to know that our marriage was not going to work anymore," said Scorpius as Rose listened on, shocked. "Our lives, our happiness and even our marriage had started to revolve around Amber and when she left…" his eyes welled up. "It was unbearable for me. It wasn't only Amber who left me. Millie left too. She refused to even look at my face at the time that I needed her the most. I couldn't take it."

"I'm sorry," Rose whispered, her voice shaking. "I wish I could help…"

"Then stay back here," Scorpius told her.

"I can't."

"You can. You're not my Healer anymore. Please, Rose." Tears were streaming down his face. "I can't be alone right now. I really can't. Please, please."

"Scorpius…"

"Rose, I really, really like you," said Scorpius, leaning in and quite suddenly, kissing her once again. And before she knew it, Rose was kissing him back with all her passion.

* * *

Scorpius woke up with a blasting headache and a strange feeling of satisfaction coursing through his veins. Something really good had happened last night. He knew this, but he couldn't put together any of his memories. He groaned and with his eyes still shut and turned to his side, trying to recollect everything that had transpired on the previous night. Pieces of memories were beginning to play in his mind. He could remember coming to The Leaky Cauldron with Millie, having a lot to drink and arguing with her. Then…?

He opened his eyes and almost yelped in surprise. Rose Weasley lay down next to him, her delicate frame covered wholly by a blanket. How had Rose come into all of this? And had they just… slept together?! Scorpius rather liked Rose and he could deny that he hadn't fantasised about this exact moment but then he knew that it was impossible, because she was his Healer. But how had this happened? How hadn't Rose objected to this? How was this even possible? This was insane!

Scorpius clutched his head and lay down still as little-by-little, the blurry memories following his argument swirled in slowly into his mind like smoke from a fire. Rose calming him down… coming to his room… him kissing her and then talking to her about Amber… then he had kissed her again. And one thing had led to the other. He looked to his side to see Rose still sleeping blissfully; she had moved and her bright red curls were now caressing her bare shoulders softly as the blanket traced the small of her back. Merlin, she was beautiful. And Scorpius had never imagined that this would happen at all. This was like a dream come true.

He got up from the bed and padded into the loo to brush his teeth. Once he was done, he draped himself in a robe and came out, only to see Rose hastily get out of bed and hurriedly cover herself with the sheets as she saw him. He smiled at her. "Good morning."

She blanched. "I must go, Scorpius… What happened was all a big mistake."

"It doesn't feel like that to me."

"Scorpius…" she sighed. "This… is not right. I'm your Healer. You're a patient. It's not even ethical!"

"Didn't I fire you last night?"

"You were drunk."

"Okay, then, you're fired _now_. I'm completely sober."

"No…" she got back into the bed and covered herself tighter with the blankets. "You're just at a very vulnerable stage of your life."

"Yet I'm sure I like you," said Scorpius, sitting beside her on the bed. "Look, Rose-" he raised his hand to touch a lock of her red hair, but she moved away.

"No, Scorpius," she said. "You don't like _me._ You've just happened to see a lot of me at a time when you were emotionally weakened and you're somehow associating that with attraction. You know nothing about me! How can you be sure about your feelings towards me?!"

"Oh, of course I have no idea that you're intelligent, compassionate, caring, understanding, stubborn as hell and a wee bit manipulative," said Scorpius, a smile playing on his lips. "I never observed anything about you in the last ten weeks, you know."

Rose looked a little shocked at how he had just described her, but she recovered. "Okay, so you know those things about me. But what about my personal life? How many boyfriends have I had? Have I been married? Am I single right now? Am I even straight?"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "If you weren't straight, you wouldn't have slept with me. If you weren't single, you'd never have let anything happen between us at all. As for the rest- big deal! So I'll find out about those things from you as and when we start spending time together!"

"Scorpius…" she said unsurely. "I don't know."

He looked into her brown eyes. "Do you like me, Rose?"

She hesitated. "Yes."

"Then give me a try. If you don't like it, you can always walk away from it. Either ways, you can't counsel me anymore. I'll have to switch to another Healer now. But while we've ruined the therapy, we might as well try for any good that may come off it."

She sat there in her blankets and stared at the floor for a long time in complete silence. She seemed to be calculating something; weighing the good and bad. After ten long minutes, she finally sighed. "Okay. I guess… we can give it a try."

He smiled and leaned close to her, so their faces were inches away from each other. "I promise I won't let you down, Rose," he whispered, before placing his lips on hers.

She loosened the blankets around her and he undid his robe, hurling it aside as she stopped kissing him briefly to push him to his back. She then climbed over him and kissed him again. He ran his hands up and down the soft skin of her bare back, then through her hair… and then they moved together, indulging themselves in sheer pleasure… feeling each other tenderly.

They lay panting five minutes later; Rose was cuddled against Scorpius as he moved a finger up and down the groove of her spine. "That was wonderful," he said, gasping for breath. "You're wonderful."

She gave him a lazy smile. "So I've heard."

"Ah, so you're a tad pompous about your sex skills too, I see."

"Maybe."

He stroked her hair for a few seconds before pulling her close and kissing her forehead. "I'm afraid we'll have to part for the day," he said.

She looked at him. "You must have a memorial service for Amber."

"Yes," he hesitated. "Will you… come along?"

She took his hand in hers. "Of course."

They lay there for long, Scorpius feeling for the first time in a year that there was something in his life that was going to be near perfect. It wasn't love, it wasn't a great, memorable friendship; it was plain understanding and compassion. It was about being at peace. With Rose, Scorpius was finally at rest with having been separated with Millie. He finally had some peace from the haunting thoughts of the daughter he had adored more than his own life. Rose promised a new life; some new times and comfort beyond everything else. She was what he needed right now and forever. Scorpius knew that no matter what, he would never come to regret this. He was going to be really, really happy.

**The End**

* * *

**A/N: This story has a sequel, 'I Know Why You Smile', which I'm currently writing for the cotillion challenge at MNFF. It's Scorpius/Rose, Scorpius/Victoire and Teddy/Victoire lol. Mostly because I claimed Scorpius and Victoire (Rose was gone, so I had to compromise).**


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